Female rock and folk musician known for her crystalline voice, Jewel was raised in remote parts of Alaska touring local Eskimo villages with her singer/songwriter parents. She began writing songs while attending Michigan's Interlochen Fine Arts Academy, then moved to California, lived out of her van and got her first regular gig in Pacific Beach at a coffeehouse called the Innerchange. She soon had a local following, and in 1995 released her first album Pieces of You. Slow to start, it eventually made its way onto the pop charts 14 months after it debuted. Her second album Spirit, while slicker in execution and still going multiplatinum, did not have the same success as her first. Her sixth album, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland was finished in 2005.